Beauty and the Beast (Lams)

Prolouge

 Once upon a time, there was a large and magnificent castle. Inside this castle, lived a powerful King and his son and his servants. The King was a very cruel and selfish man, caring more for appearances more than the wellbeing of his son and his kingdom. His son, however, cared very much about even the poorest slave in the kingdom, and though he was brave and kind, he also held a dark anger inside his heart, never using it.

The young Prince worked hard and long to try and help improve his kingdom, but his Father vetoed almost every idea. If the Prince tried to raise taxes to help fund the schooling of the townschildren, his Father would use those funds to refurbish the castle. If the Prince tried to invite a select few people inside the castle to help advise, his Father would cast them out and punish his son with a strike of the hand.

This continued until the Prince turned fourteen, on one fateful night...

It was a cold and stormy night, a night that even the most daring travelers would try to avoid. There was a loud knocking at the castle door. The King and the Prince opened it to see an old woman standing there, drenched in ice and rain. The King sneered at her ugly face, while the Prince looked on in pity.

"Please, kind sirs, please allow me some food and a place for me to stay."

The King scoffed, asking what he would get in return. The Prince quietly sighed, already feeling embarrassed and disappointed of his selfish father. The woman looked at him oddly, before turning back to the King.

"I do not have much, but I can give you a rose for a night of shelter."

The King laughed out loud, taunting the woman.

"Why that is hardly nothing! Why would I let someone as poor and ugly as you into our home?"

"Please Father! We have the room! Please have mercy on this poor woman!"

"We have nothing to do with her. Leave her outside and come along."

As the woman continued to plead, the King continued to laugh at and taunt the woman, the Prince took the woman's arm gently, and tried to lead her inside to help warm her. Seeing this, the King grew angry at his son's disobedience, and jerked him away from the woman.

"How dare you allow such scum as this into our home, you wretch!"

The King raised his hand and struck the Prince, and as soon as his hand collided with the Prince's soft face, a blinding light surrounded the old woman's haggard form. Both the King and the Prince watched in fear and fascination as a beautiful fairy stepped out of the pink light.

"I am the Great Enchantress, Rachel Faucette. You, dearest King, show only cruelty and selfishness in your heart. You go so far as to strike your only son, and to not allow an old woman shelter in even your stables. For that, I will cast a curse on you, your castle's staff, and the thing you love most, so that that may be a reminder of your folly."

Both the King and the Prince pleaded for mercy, but for different reasons. The King pleaded for his own forgiveness, hoping to be spared from this punishment. The Prince, however, pleaded for mercy so that his servants and his dearest friends should not have to pay for their mistakes, not caring for his own wellbeing.

"It is too late, dearest King. I hope that this forever punishment gives you time to renounce your sins."

With a flick of her scepter, the trembling servants disappeared in a white light, and when the light dissipated, only furniture and dishes were left. With a twist of her wrist, the King was immediately engulfed in stone, screaming as he was cursed to be a stone goblin, as ugly as his personality. With a snap of her fingers, the castle grounds were submerged into an eternal winter, and the kingdom lost their memories of their cruel King and their kind Prince.

The Prince was the only left standing. He watched as the Enchantress murmured a spell under her breath, and watched as a rose-colored spirit arose from the ground. She waved her hand around dramatically, and commanded the spirit.

"Find and transform the thing the King loves most, please."

The spirit nodded, and immediately shot off towards the Prince. The Prince tried to dodge, but the spirit rammed straight into his chest. Soon after, the Prince disappeared leaving a terrifying beast in his place.

"W-what happened? Are the servants okay? What of my Father? Or my kingdom?"

"I'm afraid you are the thing the King loves most, which I most certainly wasn't expecting...listen here boy, I cannot fully amend this curse, but there is a way you can reverse it."

The Enchantress told the young Prince that the curse could only be reversed if he could make someone love him for who he is, even as a beast. She turned the rose she had originally offered as payment, into an enchanted rose. The Prince had only until his twenty-eighth birthday to find his true love.

The Enchantress disappeared in a flurry of stars after that, and left the castle to grieve the loss of their human bodies.

Despite what his folly had brought on the castle, the King continued to abuse his son and the servants. The King kept his beastly son in hiding, not intending to help break the curse. No matter how many arguments and debates the Prince gave him, he was andament on keeping the Prince hidden away. After a while, the Prince lost hope in helping his servants be human again... he sunk into himself, communicating with only nine of his closest servants.

 One day, the King turned goblin tried to capture a young girl from the nearby village to try and break the spell for himself. He almost succeeded too, if not for the General of the town hearing her panicked screams and jumping to the rescue. The Goblin and the General had a long and weary fight, which ended with crumbles of stone on the ground, and the girl and the General heading home. Instead of the Prince being overjoyed when he heard the news, he fell into an even darker anger, despising himself for not being able to help his Father.

Every cursed being knew that the rose petals would keep falling, falling, falling and that the years would continue to go on, and on, and on.

Everyone thought that they would remain simple household appliances forever...

But a young man from a provincial town could be the changing point for everyone.